Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Humanity
by YammersMcGee
Summary: A world left altered by experiment. Humans once shared the land of Sputo with Pokémon, but steadily they vanished leaving an air of mystery and a plethora of unanswered questions behind. Where did they go? Why did they go? What happened? Our main character sets out to search for the answer to these questions, unaware of just how important they truly are.
1. Prologue - A World on Fire

Red, orange and yellow are all described as quite warm and happy colours, and it's not like there isn't any evidence to show that they can't be. They make up the most beautiful and relaxing things. Sunsets and luscious fields of flowers are just a couple of things that do nothing but stress how innately blissful these things are, encouraging us to lay back and relax; just enjoy life with the people we love the most.

However, I can tell you that warm and happy tend to be the final things that flutter into your mind when the world around you is on fire.

I laid there, staring up at the ceiling, as the world around me screamed in a sort of screeching silence. The urgency of the situation was somewhere at the back of my head I was pretty sure, but for the life of me, I just couldn't grasp it. It was somewhere between the burning agony that enveloped the right side of my body and the cold numbness that had started to slowly slither down my neck.

None of it seemed important though.

When my brain had finally caught up with what was actually happening, it decided that it would slowly start to help me look up at what was happening; it was all I had the energy to do. I couldn't scream out, I couldn't get up. I could just look.

I wish I hadn't.

My best friend stood above me. The one constant presence I'd ever had just stood there and grinned that stupid, inhuman grin that I had somehow tricked myself into believing that I would never be facing like this. It just stood there and stared at me which made it nearly impossible to acknowledge the state of the room I was in.

Everything had been burned to ashes. Stacks of papers that I had once spent hours and days and weeks hunched over were now reduced to piles of dead dust, just waiting to be laid to rest. The once pristine, silver walls were now coated in greasy black stains with the ceiling having turned almost completely dark instantly. Opposite us was a giant glass tube, number pads and screens reduced to mere skeletons of what they once were. The glass had mostly been shattered, leaving wicked spikes at the base of the contraption, a thick gel substance leaking to the floor as a shiny figure just sat there trying to come to terms with the world around it, like me.

Only it wasn't like me. It would probably live to see another day.

It got up slowly and shakily as if this was the first time it had walked in a while. It started to walk towards us slowly, stumbling a few times but getting the hang of it rather quickly, walking with power and absolute confidence. It knew exactly what it was.

Under any normal circumstance, I would have been terrified. I would have been a snivelling wreck under its mighty shadow, pleading for it to spare my meagre and pathetic existence; I just didn't care.

My world was quite literally up in flames. Everything I had devoted myself to, everything that I had achieved, everything that any of us had achieved was now gone. Lost to a force that had managed to creep in right under our noses. A force of such power that it probably hadn't even needed to surprise us, that was just to show us that it was better than us.

I suppose we deserved it. That was what we got for trying to experiment with, and alter, life. We had tried to play God, and in return, we had been blessed with the consequences.

I was suddenly yanked out of the safe confines of my own thoughts as I found my self suspended in the air, facing the abomination that I had once upon a time believed was a genuinely great idea. Its eyes bore into my soul, a bright and invading blue that I could practically read the seconds that I had left from.

It faced my now worst enemy and listened to it talk in that damn language that I had never been able to understand and nodded in what I assumed was understanding anyway.

It didn't matter to me.

The final things I remember seeing were those eyes, that smile and the remains of what I had once theorized to be a successful and blithe life be engulfed by man's red flower.

A brief memory of a line from a movie came to mind about creating the strongest something or other and succeeding. The giddy thought of that at least made sure that I was thrust into the void with a smile on my face.

* * *

_** Hello.**_

_Ugh… My head… What is this place? Where am I?_

_**This is the Gap. This is the space between one world and another; between one perspective and another.**_

_**This is your chance at retribution and your chance at earning your place once again.**_

_What do you..? Chance at retribution? What? All I remember is fire and noise and pain and ugh…_

_**Never you mind about that now. The past is the past, time has come and gone. All you must know is that you have a chance and a choice.**_

_A chance… and a choice? What do you…_

_**You have a chance to be again. You have a chance to leave your past of immature delusions of grandeur behind and to be.**_

_**You have a choice of whether you take that or not.**_

_I have a choice? Does everyone get this kinda deal or am I getting special treatment?_

_**Stop being a child.**_

_Tough crowd… I mean, I'm not all well versed on the rules of being… gone or whatever, but isn't that supposed to be kinda permanent?_

_**While you are correct in your assumption, you must understand that you weren't given this choice under some want to be nice to you.**_

_Gee thanks…_

_**The world is in disarray. Your actions indirectly offset the balance of all things, and as a result, you are the only one that can right the wrongs of a misguided past. You merged two perspectives when you had no right to; you must fix it. You have the choice to take up that mantle, and if you don't then this plague will spread.**_

_What should it matter to me though? I'm dead right?_

_**You are correct.**_

_Exactly, so I thi-_

_**But can you let yourself sit by as the world falls to ruin due to your arrogant judgement?**_

…

_Being dead is way more complicated than it should be…_

_**That does not answer the question.**_

…

_Fine… But on one condition._

_**What do you propose?**_

_Next time I die, I die. That's it. No saving the world and responsible crap._

_**If you die then it will reflect on your resolve. I would not want someone with weak resolve to attempt this mission twice.**_

_**Now, be careful. You are about to embark on a mission of the most severe consequences. You must be quick to learn, adapt and be at your strongest.**_

_**We cannot afford to let the world fall to such a fatal error of judgement.**_

_**Good luck Adam.**_

* * *

A/N: Hey! Thanks for reading the first chapter to this, I hope that you all enjoyed it! Just a little bit of backstory, this is kinda the second time I'm writing this. Once upon a time I uploaded a story here called "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Balance Keepers" but I ended up deleting it because I really wasn't satisfied with what I had written and I had no motivation to write it.  
Well, here's attempt number 2, as I have a lot more time, a lot more energy and a lot more ideas for this one.  
Please leave any criticisms or anything that you have, I look forward to reading any because I really hope to improve as I go on.  
Thanks!


	2. Chapter 1 - Don't Look Back in Anger

The world around me stopped spinning without me even realising that it had been in motion in the first place, the red thrum of a headache steadily making itself more apparent as I tried to open my eyes. A bright, invading flash of light answered the call of my pupils, forcing me to clench my eyes shut again in fear of making the pain in my head any worse.

My other senses started kicking in, the damp scent of nature easing its way into my nostrils and the sound of running water gently whispering unintelligible words into my ears. Outside… I must be outside. Which meant that that big, evil light just then must have been the sun. That explained it. I tried questioning why I was outside, but my head only responded with an angry flash of pain.

I laid there for a little while longer, eventually finding it in me to try and move my limbs. They ached and felt far too small for my body, but I decided that I'd worry about that when I got there. I needed water or something. Anything to quieten the now steady beat of pain that my head was playing.

After a few tries, I bit down the pain and got up, making my way over to the flowing water, directing myself only by sound, and found myself there within what felt like a minute or two. I knelt and washed the water over my face and squeaked as, to me, this water might as well have been snow. I shook my head, grateful that I seemed to be the only one here (I couldn't have anyone hearing that, now could I?) and opened my eyes. Thankfully, the sun had seemed to decide that it was only going to make me need to squint this time around.

All around me I saw verdant greens and friendly browns, the trees towering over me as if I were the size of an otter, their branches sprawling out over the sky as if trying to grab at it and clutching all kinds of fruits of various and friendly colours. The sun was raised high above the scene, making everything practically emanate a comforting, natural glow. It looked beautiful, undisturbed by anything and too good to be true. It made my heart pang with some form of foreign nostalgia that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake." A voice warmer than everything around me said, making me jump out of my skin and spin around so hard that I almost fell over. I was greeted with a figure cloaked in green, though she seemed to give off a glow that was somehow greener, more comforting and more natural than the entire forest. It was magical. Enchanting even. She held herself high, standing straight and letting a trail of green flow behind her. Her eyes were closed in a polite giggle as her hand rushed to cover her mouth.

I would have been relieved if it wasn't for one tiny, minuscule detail.

She was a Snivy.

And she had talked.

"Diyowhanng?" I rasped, quite intelligently. In my head it had meant to either come out as "Did you just talk?" or "What the hell?!" but apparently my mouth didn't agree with that. This only made the Snivy giggle a bit more, lifting her other hand in an attempt to politely cover it.

I rubbed my eyes, and I did it for a second time to make sure that I wasn't seeing things. "Did you just… talk?" I asked carefully, the gears in my head starting to whir as I tried to figure out what was happening. It must have been some hallucination or something. I must have taken something really bad…

"Yeah, that's how we communicate." The Snivy responded after the giggles stopped, her voice soft and delicate as if she was talking to a child. Her eyes had opened, revealing a chocolate brown that contained some inherent comfort and a slight hint of concern. "Are you okay? You must have hit your head pretty hard…"

"Hit my he- No! This isn't right. I shouldn't be able to hear you speak! At all! I am a human! You are a Snivy!" I replied quickly, backing away slightly as I did. My head was pounding with the same pain from earlier, and it didn't seem to want to cooperate with the newfound fear and bewilderment that had made their way in as well. My mind was racing, trying to draw conclusions but coming out with a mess of nonsensicality and impossible explanations.

"A human? Are you sure? That's… That's not what you look like at all to me." The Snivy asked, her brow furrowing as she eyed me with a mixture of worry and suspicion. "You look like a normal Oshawott to me… Well, normal in appearance at least…"

My mind was bombarded with even more questions at that. It was one thing to hear a Pokémon talk, but to then be called an Oshawott by said Pokémon took this bizarre situation to a whole other level.

"A what? You're mad you are! Can't you see that I'm obviously a-!" I started, turning back to the water to look at my reflection, as if for some self-reassurance.

Suffice to say, what I saw was not reassuring in the slightest.

"Oh Jesus H. Christ I'm an Oshawott!" I yelled in surprise as I saw what was staring back at me, leaping back and tripping over. I felt overwhelmed, dumbstruck, clueless. There was no way that had been right. It had to be some form of trick or trip or just something that I could explain. There was no way in high hell that I could have just miraculously turned into an Oshawott.

I sat there shivering, a numbness creeping over my thoughts signalling to me that my head had had enough as my aching body tried to decide whether it wanted to get up and look again or stay down, lay down and wait until I woke up and was saved from this nightmare. I tried to think, to reason with myself but all that came out of it was a hot throb of pain and some form of an incoherent distant thought. This couldn't be happening, there had to be a reason behind this. One that I could understand.

The path back into reality came in the form of a small hand on my shoulder, and a small shake to go with it. I looked up to see those same brown eyes, staring down at me with concern. "It's okay. We can get to the bottom of this." She said softly, her voice slow yet deliberate. Soft yet striking.

I looked at her for what felt like a few minutes, and the fear turned into frustration. I swiped her hand off of me and got up, backing away slightly. "It's okay? It's okay?! Are you insane or stupid or… or something!? This is anything but okay! I'm not sure about your kind, or your customs, but waking up and suddenly being an entirely different freaking thing, does not come anywhere NEAR okay in my books!" I found myself shouting, my anger magma, flowing freely from an exciting volcano. I was shaking, quite violently, and I could see that I had shocked her at least. Good. It's what she deserved for lying to me.

I turned around, closing my eyes and trying to reason with myself. That outburst hadn't been necessary, despite what the recent rush of primal emotion tried to tell me. She'd literally just told me that she would help me. I inhaled deeply; opening my eyes to the exhale, letting them explore the area in front of me while I bit down the rest of my frustration.

I hadn't had much of a chance to look at the river in front of me, I had kind of been preoccupied with something else, but now was the perfect chance. It almost glowed a friendly sapphire, reflecting the cloudless sky above us perfectly while somehow enhancing it and making it more enchanting mad artistic, remaining clear as if it were the surface of a mirror, a complete contrast to the anarchic chaos that was taking part in my head. It resonated with me, it felt comfortable despite the fact that I was pretty sure this was the first time I had ever seen it. Maybe that was just part of being a water type.

I almost winced, as something in my head hit me. At the mention of being a Pokémon something up, there really didn't want to hear it. Maybe it was taking longer for the knowledge that this was very true reality to sink in. I rubbed my head and took a moment to appreciate that I was already exhausted and wanted to lay down and sleep again. Acceptance is hard work.

I turned back to face the kind Snivy to see that she had been waiting patiently. I closed my eyes and sighed, clearing my throat. "Listen… I… I didn't mean that. I'm kinda having a hard time with…" I paused, waving my tiny arms down my body. "This ordeal, I guess. So… I'm sorry about just then." I mumbled, earning a warm smile from her. I tried to return it, but I was pretty sure I ended up looking like I was in pain more than anything. I hated apologies. Not because of any 'oh you hate being wrong' type deal, they were just always so awkward.

And this situation did not need more excuses to be awkward.

"It's o- don't worry about it." The snake replied, trying to avoid using the words that had earned the shouting beforehand.

That stung, but it was fair.

"I can't imagine what must be going through your head right now, what you must be thinking. I don't envy you, but I want to help you at least. You seem genuine, not like the other types of hooligans that have been popping up more recently lately. I'll admit, it's difficult to wrap my head around a Pokémon turning into a human, especially since there hasn't been a human here in decades… But, I don't know why you would lie about something like this, so I'll do what I can for you right now." She said calmly, lowering her head in thought.

So, there had been humans here before. That was something at least, something to base something off of.

"What do you remember of your past? Do you have a name, or anything else? Maybe that could be a step to figuring something out?" The Snivy asked, looking up at me quizzically. There was some deep thought in those eyes, and maybe a little bit of fear. I couldn't blame her if she was scared, I'm sure I'd be pretty scared if some random Pokémon that I had just seen unconscious started screaming at me about being something that was anything else but the thing they were at that time. They'd look like a raving lunatic to me.

Was I a raving lunatic? I hoped not, the memories of being human were there. They were definitely there. The knowledge that I had once upon a time been a person was deep-rooted. Instinctual almost.

"I… I don't remember what I did, but I know that I was a human. I know it, it's there!" I said quietly, my voice becoming slightly louder and more defensive. I tried to rack my brain for something, anything, just to give this Snivy something.

ADAM

I didn't hear it, but it felt like it had burst my eardrums. It felt like my head had set ablaze, pain engulfing my being like I had just been struck by lightning and forcing me onto my knees as weakness threatened to take me into darkness. I hadn't realised that my mouth had been open in a strangled mixture of a yelp and a few choice words that I saved for situations like this. The noise kept up for another beat before it died down and almost disappeared entirely, leaving me with a headache that felt like cognitive paradise.

I looked up and around, finding that everything was still quite the same and nothing except me seemed to be disturbed by that at all. I turned to face the Snivy, who had frozen and spread my arms. "What was that?" I rasped, my voice breaking. My voice had perhaps not caught on that I could sound like a man again.

"What was what?" She asked in reply, her voice somewhat shaky yet still controlled.

"That loud-ass shout! Some voice that thought it'd be funny to scream Adam at me!" I replied incredulously. Great, I was hearing things and I'd just been crying about being a human that had been turned into a Pokémon. I was one event away from being told that I had a drug problem and that I needed help.

"I-I didn't hear anything. I just heard you scream." The Snivy replied with a steady voice, looking away from me and at the water. "But… Seeing as it was just you that heard it, maybe it was something connected to you. Maybe Adam is your name." She suggested calmly, completely going over the fact that just a second before I had been on my knees trying not to pass out.

I blinked in disbelief. Her ability to stay calm and think this rationally, after all of this, was stupendous. I was almost jealous, it was better than anything I had come up with thus far. "I… Sure, that sounds about right. And even if it isn't, it's the best that we've got right now." I said, dusting myself off and shaking my head. "Who're you?" I asked in response, hoping to refer to her as something other than Snivy.

The Pokémon opened her mouth but was interrupted by a distant bell. She frowned and looked up at the sun, her eyes widening a bit as she quickly turned to look behind her. "Oh bother…" She muttered, looking back at me. "Come, it's time for me to get home. I'm guessing that you've got nowhere to stay, so it'd be best for you to come back with me. We can talk on the way." She said, turning so that she could walk. "I'm Cana, by the way." She added politely before walking.

I watched Cana walk for a few seconds before realising that I wasn't going to move unless I made the effort to. I hurried to get to her side, watching the rest of the scene around me unfurl. It was friendly, just like it had been back by the river. The vibrant greens had dulled down a little, signalling that the day was steadily coming to a close and the Browns were becoming less earthy and murkier, the promise of dusk exciting the newfound colours as they slowly began to claim the land around them.

The first part of the walk was pretty silent; I just followed alongside my new makeshift tour guide as she led me to somewhere that I didn't even know about. I just walked, it was a simple motion and it was something that I could focus on, something to keep the constant questions locked in the back of my mind. They pounded on the mental blockades that I had set up, telling me sensible things like "surely you should want some answers", sometimes even using the word "deserve". I didn't want answers though, whether I deserved them or not.

I was terrified.

Look, in theory, turning into one of these things is pretty cool. Hell, I'm pretty sure that once upon a time in my unknown life I wanted to turn into a Pokémon too. I could totally believe that once upon a time, young and innocent Adam used to run around the house pretending to be a Pikachu, using Thunderbolt to destroy everything within the confines of my imagination.

But that's not what this was. This wasn't a fantasy that I had been given the fortune to live out, this was a nightmare. I had no clue in the world who I was, I had been placed on some random river bank with bucket loads of pain as a welcome gift and finding out possibly the most important and fundamental detail about myself had resulted in some demonic scream that deafened me and only me.

To confuse matters a whole lot more, I had just so happened to wake up to a Snivy that seemed to be totally calm with me ranting about all this, screaming at her and to reward her for her troubles I was now tagging along with her because she was concerned that I didn't have anywhere to stay. As much as I wanted to believe that this was all honesty and I just got lucky enough to meet a kind-hearted soul that wanted to do nothing but spread happiness and positivity around…

It's hard to follow that thought line if everything that very same day had told you that you had no reason to feel like you were lucky in any sense of the word.

That's what being on high-alert does to you, I think I'm excused for being a tiny bit paranoid.

"Hey, Cana?" I asked, looking over at her as she grunted politely in acknowledgement. "How are you staying so calm? Is this a common occurrence or are you just blessed with the superpower of unbelievable patience?"

Cana let out a warm laugh, crossing her arms and looking back at me. "I'd say… I don't know, I'm kinda scared about this all if I'm honest. This isn't really a common occurrence, no, and I just find it easy to stay calm. It's what having a few little siblings does to you, it works up to that patience." She replied calmly, turning her gaze back to her front.

I frowned, crossing my arms and tilting my head. "I mean… Sure, I imagine that having them around does make you calmer, but isn't this kinda just a little bit more than a little brother… I dunno, stealing your slice of cake and then crying your mum when you got peeved type of situation?" I shot back, somewhat suspiciously.

Cana sighed, her smile faltering a little as she shrugged. "Well… I mean, yeah. I got a bit scared, I guess. If I can be honest, I still am a bit scared of this all. You don't just get Pokémon telling others that they used to be a human around here, especially since there's so much taboo surrounding humans. I got kinda scared that you were just some hooligan trying to scare a kid, but I guess something just didn't feel right about that. I saw it in your eyes, there was genuine fear there, and that means something to me. I wanted to try and help you, and I can't really do that if I'm getting scared with you." She admitted, her face taking on more of a brave expression.

I took the words in, not knowing exactly what to do with them. Maybe I had actually lucked out, and I did actually manage to find a kind heart. They felt genuine, and I didn't hear or see anything from her to suggest that they weren't the truth in any way. It made me smile almost, and it made me feel just a little bit more optimistic about my chances here.

There was one thing that really caught my attention though. This time for the wrong reasons.

"Humans are taboo?" I asked curiously, premature worry already making its way to the bottom of my stomach.

For a split second, I thought I'd caught an expression of fear on Cana's face. I'd honestly thought I'd seen it contort with a mixture of emotions. Rage, pain, fear.

Hate.

But it had come and gone so quickly, and I'd already started getting myself worked up about the fear of being told some horrible story of indescribable and unspeakable horrors committed by a race of oppressive monsters, bringing pain to the denizens of this land.

Even in my head that sounded pretty dramatic, so I came to the conclusion that I had just been seeing things.

"I'm probably not the best person to ask about that, my dad's a lot more reliable than I am when it comes to history," Cana replied, her voice sounding slightly strained. It was obvious that this discussion topic had made her uncomfortable, so out of respect (and some form of gratitude), I dropped it there.

I knew one thing though, she knew more than she was letting on.

* * *

A/N: Hey again, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!  
Now, despite the fact that this was posted the next day, I'm going to warn you to not get used to this kind of schedule. I just wanted to get this out while I could, but as far as updates go I don't know when the next one will be. I'll try not to make y'all wait too long though, don't worry.

Please make sure to leave any criticisms you have, or tell me if I'm doing something well, any feedback is great!  
Thank you again for reading, it means a lot to me that you'd take the time out of your day to read this!


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